The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is launching a new campaign called Hay Fever, which aims to teach rabbit owners how to correctly feed their rabbits.
Many rabbit owners wrongly take Bugs Bunny’s advice and feed their rabbits an incorrect diet, according to the British animal charity. Rabbits do not naturally eat root vegetables, such as carrots, nor do they naturally eat lettuce(莴苣), the charity said.
The charity said that people were using these foodstuffs as major parts of a rabbit’s diet, when in fact they can cause health problems. Just 8% of owners knew what to correctly feed their rabbits, according to statistics.
This might explain why 11% of rabbits are suffering from tooth decay and a further 11% from digestive problems, according to research at the University of Bristol, commissioned by the RSPCA.
“We want all pet rabbits to be eating hay as their main food,” said Rachel Roxburgh, an animal scientist for the charity. “People also think their rabbits should eat carrots because that’s what Bugs Bunny does. But he’s a cartoon, real rabbits don’t talk, and they shouldn’t be eating carrots too often either.”
The RSPCA suggests giving rabbits daily handfuls of hay, around the same size as the rabbits themselves. They can also feed on grass, but not lawn clippings (剪下的草).
To vary their diet and give them a treat, dark green vegetables are advised, including broccoli, kale and cabbage on a daily basis, as well as regular parts of commercial nuggets(小块食物).
What do you feed your rabbits? Are you guilty of giving them one too many carrots?The purpose of the “Hay Fever” campaign is to .
| A．suggest new types of healthy food for pet rabbits |
| B．teach rabbit owners what to do when their pets get tooth decay |
| C．instruct rabbit owners to make proper diet choice for their pets |
| D．clear up people’s misunderstandings about rabbits. |
The writer shows the problem is quite serious among the rabbit owners by .
| A．quoting(引述) Rachel Roxburgh | B．giving examples |
| C．making a comparison | D．using numbers |
Which of the following are healthy foods for pet rabbits on a daily basis?
| A．carrots and grass | B．hay and cabbage |
| C．lettuce and kale | D．broccoli and nuggets |
What is Rachel Roxburgh’s attitude toward rabbit owners?
| A．Understanding. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Doubtful. |
Next time you hear a funny joke you’d better not laugh too hard. According to a paper published by the British Medical Journal, laughter isn’t always the best medicine. Sometimes it can even be harmful. Professor Robin Ferner from the University of Birmingham, one of the authors of the study, found that bad things could happen to people who laughed too much. He says: “We found people with heartbeat problems which had stopped their heart, we found people who had fainted, and we found people who’d dislocated their jaws or burst their lungs.”
It seems that laughing can be no laughing matter. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Professor Ferner says there are benefits to laughing when you want to lose weight, for example. Yes, that’s right: laugh and be slimmer! Professor Ferner explains that: “You use energy when you laugh, you move your diaphragm (横膈膜), you expand your lungs, and both those things can be helpful.”
According to the research, laughing for a quarter of an hour can burn up to 40 calories, and if you laughed all day you’d use up about 2,000 calories, which is what most people consume in a day. But don’t do that or you might end up with a painful jaw. Ouch! Or you might find people looking at you in a funny way.
But I don’t want to finish this article leaving you feeling desperate. Laughter comes naturally for most of us. Babies begin to laugh at around 3-6 months. So give in to your sense of humour and keep smiling. Life is short anyway.Laughing too much may cause the following harmful results EXCEPT_________.
| A．heart stop | B．diaphragm movement |
| C．lung burst | D．jaw dislocation |
The underlined phrase “doom and gloom” in Paragraph 2 probably means_______.
| A．hopeless | B．funny | C．painful | D．nervous |
What is the author’s attitude towards laughing in the last paragraph?
| A．Uninterested. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Worried. | D．Favorable |
San Francisco, unofficially regarded as one of the homeless capitals of the US, counts nearly 6,500 homeless people, with 4,300 living on the street.
Among the many problems that the homeless face is little or no access to showers. San Francisco only has about 16 to 20 shower stations to accommodate them. But Doniece Sandoval has made it her task to change that. “Homelessness is something you can’t really miss,” the 51-year-old woman said. She started Lava Mae, a sort of showers on wheels, a new project that aims to turn old city buses into shower stations for the homeless.
“One day I passed a woman in the street and she was very dirty and basically crying, and I heard her say that she would never be clean. But I was wondering what her opportunities were to actually get clean,” Sandoval said.
Sandoval was inspired to start Lava Mae. The project has already been welcomed with open arms in the city. The Transportation Agency has donated one bus for the cause and is willing to donate three more if the project succeeds. Sandoval hopes the first bus will be able to hit the road in May this year. The Public Commission has also agreed to let the buses plug into fire hydrants(消防龙头)around the city if Lava Mae pays for the water.
One of Lava Mae’s biggest supporters is Bevan Dufty, the director of Housing Opportunity, Partnerships & Engagement under the mayor of San Francisco. “For people who are unhoused, access to showers is very difficult. Shower buses are something that could potentially be deployed (部署)in response to an emergency, so it is relevant to all San Franciscans," Dufty said. “Doniece has done an incredible job as a citizen who cares about helping the poor. We are very excited to see Lava Mae become real soon. ”
Each bus will have two shower stations and Sandoval expects that by 2015, they’ll be able to provide 2000 showers a week. What problem does San Francisco face according to the text?
A. The city has the most homeless people in the USA.
B. There are no shower stations for the homeless in the city.
C. It’s hard for homeless people in the city to take showers.
D. Few citizens in the city care about the homeless.What does the underlined word ''them” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
| A．City problems. | B．Shower stations. |
| C．Old buses. | D．The homeless. |
. Which of the following best describes Doniece Sandoval?
| A．Brave and independent. | B．Caring and responsible. |
| C．Honest and determined. | D．Friendly and humorous. |
What can we learn from Dufty’s words?
| A．All San Franciscans are excited to use Lava Mae. |
| B．Emergencies in San Francisco will be prevented by Lava Mae. |
| C．Dufty thinks highly of Doniece's way of helping the poor. |
| D．The mayor of San Francisco will support Doniece financially. |
What can be a suitable title for the text?
| A．A Newly Invented Way of Shower |
| B．Showers on Wheels for the Homeless |
| C．The Health Problem of the Homeless |
| D．Lave Mae---a new name for old city buses |
Welcome to Gold Coast Wax Museum
The Gold Wax(蜡像) Museum is one of the Cold Coast's longest running attractions. It's a collection of famous figures. It's Australia's largest museum of its kind, featuring more than 110 life-size wax figures copies of British and Australian History.
The Wax Museum is visited by many thousands of people each year who are shocked at the amazing realism of the life-size figures in authentic costumes. This is your invitation to wander through at your leisure and meet many important and famous people's figures on Queensland's Gold Coast.
Come face to face with such celebrities as Michael Jackson, President Obama, past President John F. Kennedy, King Hussein, members of the Royal Family, and many others whose lives have all left an indelible (擦不掉的) mark on our world. Information cards are located alongside each figure.
The Gold Coast Wax Museum contains figures which have been made by leading local and overseas sculptors to international standards, equal in quality to the world's best, as seen in Europe, the United Kingdom, and U. S. A. The detail in the figures is amazing -and includes hair applied one strand at a time, requiring many working hours for one hand, and the eyes are so real that they seem to follow the viewer around.
Price
Child (1-3yrs) free
Child (4-12yrs) $ 22. 00
Adult $ 29. 00
Family (2 Adults + I Child) $68.00
Opening hours
Open 7 days a week, 10 a. m. to l0 p. m.
Closed at Christmas Day (25 Dec.) and Anzac Day (25 Apr.)
Location
Ferny Ave, Surfers Paradise ( Gold Coast ) QLD
How to get there
You can choose any of the Gold Coast airport transfers, car rentals, shuttles and private transfers to/from your hotel. Many coach operators also offer Gold Coast transfers to surrounding attractions, beaches, and the more distant destinations, throughout the day.
What to bring
Bring your sense of adventure and your camera and see something exciting and quite unique.
For further information, please click here to see more about the Gold Coast Wax Museum. If you visit the Gold Coast Wax Museum, you can
| A．see many members of the Royal Family in person in the Museum |
| B．enjoy some world-class vivid max-works in the Museum |
| C．meet many leading local and international sculptors in the Museum |
| D．come at any time of the year except at Christmas Day |
If a couple and their l0-year-old son visit the Gold Coast Wax Museum, they may pay_____．
| A．$87 | B．$80 | C．$68 | D．$58 |
You will most probably find this passage ______.
| A．in a guidebook | B．in a magazine |
| C．in a text book | D．on a webpage |
Trip 1 Black Bear Count
There have been fires in this area in the last few years and the Office of the National Park is not sure how many black bears are still living. Some bears have been seen since the fires, and the Office has asked for young people to help count them. The entire trip will last three hours. Bookings necessary.
Cost: Free When: May 8
Trip 2 Garland Valley
Bring your drink and lunch for this walk in a beautiful area of the Blue Mountains. Garland Valley is close to the town of Garland hut is part of the National Park. Many wild animals live in this area, including many rare birds. This is a great walk for bird-lovers. The trip lasts four hours. Bookings necessary.
Cost: $ 15 When: May 8, May 15
Trip 3 Flashlight Adventure
Put on your warm clothes, bring a flashlight and a pair of glasses, and come for a night walk along the Dungog Valley. A guide will lead the tour. Many of the animals you will see on this trip . The guide will tell you about the lives of the animals you see. Numbers are strictly limited on night trips, so be sure to book early. This walk lasts two and a half hours.
Cost: $ 12 When: May 8, May 15, May22
Equipment to be needed:
Please bring enough water and food for all walks.
Wear good walking shoes—no high heels.
Wear a hat for day walks.
Dress warmly for night walks.
Children must be with an adult.
Make sure your flashlight works well and bring extra batteries for night walks.
Follow all instructions from guides during the walks. The mountains are a dangerous place.
Bookings:
Bookings for the above trips can be trade by telephone（893 — 4847）or on the Internet at www. Bluemountaintour. comWhere are these trips?
| A．In a large city. |
| B．In a park in the mountains. |
| C．In a special kind of zoo. |
| D．In three different countries. |
On which trip might you see animals that sleep during the day?
| A．Black Bear Count | B．Garland Valley |
| C．Flashlight Adventure | D．None of the trips |
Which of the following is NOT necessary for the three trips?
| A．Good walking shoes | B．A pair of glasses |
| C．Food and water | D．A sleeping-bag |
Do you know that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? The average women’s brain weighs 10% less than men’s. Since researches have shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent than women. Right? Wrong. Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size. Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain. The brain consists of “grey matter” and “white matter”. While men have more of the latter, the amount of “thinking” brain is almost exactly the same in both sexes.
It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women. This means that little girls tend to learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of information from different sources at the same time. When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time.
There are other important differences between two sexes. As white matter is the key to spatial(空间的) tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things. “A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go,” says one researcher. That may explain one of life’s great mysteries—why men refuse to ask for directions … and women often need to!
The differences begin when fetuses(胎儿) are about nine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children as young as one. A boy would try to climb a barrier (障碍物) before him or push it down while a girl would attract help from others. These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills. It may all go back to our ancestors, among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research. www..com
If all this disappoints you, it shouldn’t. “The brain changes throughout our lives according to what we do with it.” says a biologist.Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?
| A．Women’s brain is 10% less than men’s |
| B．Grey matter plays the same role as white matter. |
| C．Grey matter controls thinking in the brain. |
| D．Both sexes have the same amount of white matter. |
What can we infer from the second and third paragraphs?
| A．Women prefer doing many things at a time. |
| B．Men do better dealing with one job at a time. |
| C．Women do not need to tell directions. |
| D．Men have weaker spatial abilities. |
Which of the following do you agree with according to the fourth paragraph?
| A．Young boys may be stronger than young girls. |
| B．More women take up jobs requiring speech skills. |
| C．Women may have stronger feelings than men. |
| D．Our ancestors needed more spatial skills. |
What is the writer’s attitude in writing this passage?
| A．Defensive. | B．Persuasive. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Objective. |